Car crushed by 'boy racer'

Teenager charged over crash

HIT-AND-RUN: Emergency services tend to a family of three who were injured when their vehicle was rammed by a boy racer in Hamilton last night.

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A mother and her two children were last night rammed off the road from behind by a suspected boy racer who then fled, leaving them trapped in the crushed car.

Stunned residents heard a male yelling "go, go, go" just seconds after the Mazda 8 ploughed into the Subaru at high speed, injuring two children in the Hamilton suburb of Fairfield on Bankwood Rd at 7.45pm.

Police this morning praised a nearby resident who found a smashed-up car outside his house not long after the crash and called an off-duty policeman.

The teenage driver was arrested a short time later and appeared in Hamilton District Court this morning charged with failing to stop and ascertain injury. Police were this morning awaiting the results of toxicology tests to determine what, if any, part alcohol has played in the crash.

Senior Sergeant Pete Simpson, of Hamilton, said the woman was driving south in a Subaru Impreza when she saw a car race up behind her.

"It looked like a boy racer-type vehicle," Mr Simpson said. "It was dark blue or black in colour. It came up behind her and hit her in the rear of the vehicle and shunted her off the road into a nearby address – luckily there was no fence there."

Mr Simpson said it was a "very severe impact".

"It pushed them a substantial way off the road and caused extensive damage to the rear of the vehicle – it is very crumpled, so the speed would have been excessive."

Bankwood Rd resident Natasha Cox said she heard a loud "bang" and ran out to investigate the crash, outside Fairfield College.

"I pretty much ran out and yelled to call the ambulance and ran down to the car ... I came back up to get blankets for the people inside the vehicle," Ms Cox said.

She said the 12-year-old girl in the front seat was "in a lot of pain", while bystanders had freed her younger brother from the back seat.

"I heard them say they had been at hockey – or a sports day," she said.

Ms Cox said a neighbour heard a male yelling "go, go, go, go" just seconds after the crash. "Nobody had the chance to see the car – it all happened so quickly," she said.

As Ms Cox tended to the patients with other bystanders, her husband Peter directed traffic until emergency services arrived.

The mother and her children, believed to be Hamilton residents, were taken to Waikato Hospital – two of them suffered moderate to serious injuries and the other had minor injuries.

Police were originally making a public appeal to help find the driver but Mr Simpson said they were making inquiries to find out who was driving and they were following strong leads.Mr Simpson wouldn't reveal how the Mazda 8 was found but said it appeared there was only one person in the car.

The Serious Crash Unit was investigating the scene last night.

Anyone with information should call Hamilton police on 078586200 or call Crimestoppers on 0800555111.